Most people will be tucking into the turkey when it's time for Christmas dinner. Yet in Japan a peculiar festive tradition has tak...
Most people will be tucking into the turkey when it's time for Christmas dinner.
Yet in Japan a peculiar festive tradition has taken hold, and it was all based on a lie a businessman told to save his company.
Takeshi Okawara managed the first KFC franchise in Japan and he told people fried chicken was a common alternative to turkey in the West.
It wasn't true, but Mr Okawara sparked a Japanese tradition that is now close to 50 years old.
A statue of Colonel Sanders, the American who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, wearing a Father Christmas costume in Japan
Millions of Japanese people will eat KFC at Christmas this year, all because the first manager of a franchise in Japan told people chicken was a Western alternative to turkey
More than three million Japanese families eat KFC on Christmas Eve each year after the American junk food firm launched its 'Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii!' campaign ('Kentucky for Christmas!') in 1974.
Japan's population descends on KFC for an array of chicken buckets, burgers and wings, much of which is drenched in their festive gravy.
Mr Okawara said the tradition begun when he dressed up as Father Christmas at a festive school party and served the fast-food to the children.
Takeshi Okawara lied about the prevalence of chicken being eaten instead of turkey at Christmas but has created a festive tradition that is almost half a century old with his fib
Junk food lovers may not have the healthiest of meals, which each item packed with a large number of calories and a meal costing around £20
Yet many in Japan won't mind to splurge on the fried chicken over the Christmas holiday
However, KFC may not be the healthiest option for a meal.
There are 1,075 calories in a single KFC Gravy Burger Box Meal, which consists of a chicken breast fillet burger with gravy-mayonnaise and cheese, topped with a cupped hashbrown you can fill with their gravy. It also comes with a mini fillet, chips and a drink.
That meal is a limited time offer over the festive period.
'I know people are not eating chicken,' Mr Okawara told Business Insider.
'It was a lie, I still regret that. But people like it.'
Queues of thousands of people are set for Christmas day, which each person splashing the equivalent of around £20 for a Christmas KFC meal.
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